As your PBS station, it is KLRU’s mission to bring people together around important issues. KLRU does this through various educational and outreach initiatives. This year, KLRU will present 2nd Half of Life project. Created for one of the best-educated, healthiest, and most privileged generations in American history — the Boomers — the series aims to help people reinvent life after the age of 50. In the coming months, 2nd Half of Life presents episodes of Growing Bolder on Sundays at 10:30 am.

Upcoming episodes:

June 19
The Purpose and Beauty of Birds of Prey – They are two of the most under-appreciated groups around — birds of prey and the people who dedicate their lives to helping them. Find out what made Carol McCorkle and her husband change careers to educate us on the plight of raptors, and see how their Avian Reconditioning Center has become a big part of their outreach. The Power of Persistence – It’s the definitive American success story. See a need, fill it and make millions. Of course, it’s never that easy. But it can be done. Patrick Gottsch is living proof. Eight years of having doors slammed in his face didn’t keep this former farmer from building a global media network. The Sky’s the Limit – What would you do if you had all the money in the world and a whole lifetime to spend it? Kermit Weeks realized early on that for him, the sky’s the limit. Literally. He now owns the largest private airplane collection in the world. But it wasn’t until recently that he realized the planes were just a vehicle to help him reach his true destiny.more →

Juneteenth Jamboree 2011 presents Dr. Jessica Grogan and Funmi Ogunro. Remember the Civil War? While not as immediate as the Battle of the Alamo, it has relevance 150 years hence. Prof. Grogan puts the war in perspective. Funmi and Friends presents the “Foods of Juneteenth. Children’s host Funmi Ogunro leads viewers through restaurants and recipes that will satisfy your family on Independence Day. This special will air on KLRU, 18.1, on Sunday, June 19, at 6 pm and Monday, June 20, at 10 pm

Saturday, June 18th, on KLRU-Q, 18.3, features an afternoon of Juneteenth specials. The day kicks off with a live broadcast of Austin’s annual Juneteenth parade followed by the last several years of Juneteenth Jamboree specials.10:30am Juneteenth Parade

1 pm Juneteenth Jamboree 2010
Juneteenth Jamboree is an annual glimpse at the notion of freedom and how African American emancipation manifests both in the past and today.

2 pm Juneteenth Jamboree 2009
Juneteenth is a official day of celebration in 30 states, so Juneteenth Jamboree takes a moment to consider a song that is heard every year at this occasion, “The Negro National Anthem.” Also several young essay winners tell why Juneteenth is relevant today.

2:30pm Juneteenth Jamboree 2008
The first African slave arrived in Texas in 1528, but it took until June 19, 1865 to end slavery in Texas and the United States. The anniversary of that day is celebrated as a holiday– Juneteenth. And in celebration, this program explains the history of blacks in Texas, and commemorates the namesake of the annual Alvin Patterson Battle of the Bands.

KLRU is just $1,500 short of reaching our 3 day goal for raising $40,000 in support of the best content on television and the web. Make a difference. Give a gift now.

Thanks to hundreds of viewers just like you, KLRU-TV, Austin PBS is just $1,500 short of reaching our goal of raising $40,000 in just 3 days. Many PBS stations are running full pledge drives this month, some as long as three weeks. KLRU is trying something different. If you called or clicked to give this weekend, thank you. If you have not given yet, we need your support.

Four of the world’s most beloved kids programs will arrive for the first time on Spanish television. Beginning this week, national Spanish network Vme will be the exclusive Spanish-language home for Thomas y Sus Amigos (Thomas & Friends™), Bob El Constructor (Bob the Builder™), Barney y sus amigos (Barney & Friends™) and Angelina Ballerina™ and all from HIT Entertainment. With the addition of these shows to its extraordinary line-up that includes Plaza Sesamo, LazyTown and many others, Vme now airs the six most popular children’s franchises in the world.

The four new series will air during Vme’s daily preschool block, Vme Niños, and on its 24/7 cable channel Vme Kids. Vme is the only Hispanic network that dedicates more than four hours a day, six days a week to preschool programming.

“The appeal of these global characters within the Latino community is huge. Each of these programs captures the hearts and minds of kids and inspires the next generation through the characters they already know and love,” said Carmen DiRienzo. “As the undisputed leader of Spanish content for kids, Vme offers the programs that consistently earn the love of kids and the trust of parents. The addition of these four shows only underscores our ongoing commitment to deliver empowering and inspiring content for all members of the Latino family – even the youngest.”
With Thomas y Sus Amigos — Mon, Wed, Fri at 9:00am there is a rich world to discover and explore. Through the adventures of Thomas and his friends, children learn important life lessons about the value of friendship, fair play, team work and what it means to be a Really Useful Engine. Thomas y Sus Amigos inspires children to believe that little engineers – like little engines – can do big things.

Bob El Constructor — Saturdays 7:00am and his machine team are ready to tackle any project. As they hammer out the solutions that lead to a job well done, Bob and the Can-Do Crew demonstrate the power of positive-thinking, problem-solving, teamwork and follow-through. Most importantly, from start to finish, the team always shows that The Fun Is In Getting It Done!
Barney y sus amigos – Tues. & Thurs. 7:00am — Purple, fun-loving and happy, Barney is not your typical dinosaur. He’s a huggable, lovable 200 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex. Barney, and his DINO-mite friends BJ and Baby Bop, help parents give their children the range of skills they need to grow, and always do it with lots of fun, music and laughs.

Angelina Ballerina – Mon, Wed, Fri at 7:00am and Tues & Thurs 9:00am — a beloved publishing property for close to three decades, is a little star with big dreams of becoming a prima ballerina. This feisty little mouse works hard to reach her goals and along the way, and always learns from her mistakes. When little kids share in Angelina’s experiences, they’re inspired to go after their big dreams too.

On Tuesday, June 14, at 9 p.m., KLRU will air award-winning director Lydia Nibley’s moving documentary, Two Spirits. It was recently the last film in this season’s Community Cinema screenings. Using reenactments and interviews, Nibley presents a portrait of a 16-year-old Navajo, Fred Martinez, from his early years immersed in his people’s traditional culture in the rural West to his life as a rambunctious high school student in the small town of Cortez, Colorado. It is the story of his life as a nadleehi, a “feminine man” revered by traditional Navajos as a balance of the masculine and feminine in nature. He (I’m using the pronoun favored in the film) can also be understood as a “two-spirit” person, integrating the male and female genders, or as a transgendered person whose gender identity differs from the sex assigned at his birth. However we define Martinez, he fully embraced his identity, standing at the crossroads of male and female, Navajo and mainstream America. Yet, as two-spirit activist Richard (Anguksuar) LaFortune notes, “The place where two discriminations meet is a dangerous place to be.” Two Spirits sensitively recounts the prejudice and hate the resilient Martinez faced everyday. Ultimately, this hate culminated in his brutal murder at the hands of 18-year-old Shaun Murphy, who later bragged that he had “beat up a fag.” Prosecutors hesitated to charge Murphy with a hate crime. Eventually, he pled guilty to second-degree murder and received a 40-year sentence.

Martinez’s mother, Pauline, asks at one point, “Why are people killed for being who they are?” As Nibley tells Fred’s story, she sets out to answer his mother’s question. The director squarely places the blame on Western culture, particularly Christianity, and its dualist concept of gender. Rooted in a literalist reading of Genesis, it claims that people are only male and female, and nothing in between. Nibley contrasts this with an explication of the Navajo understanding of four genders, ranging from the asdzaan, or “feminine woman,” to the nadleehi. Mainstream Americans and Christianized Navajos, she suggests, lack a nuanced understanding of gender and so respond with hostility to transgendered people. Such sweeping generalizations, however, are a major problem for Two Spirits.more →

KLRU-TV, Austin PBS staff recently returned from the 2011 PBS Annual Meeting and reported that the PBS programming lineup for this Fall is outstanding. Right now, we’re in the process of budgeting and securing resources for the new broadcast year, and we need your support. Many PBS stations are running full pledge drives this month, some as long as three weeks.

KLRU is doing something different. We’re trying to raise $40,000 in the next three days.

In the coming year, KLRU will bring you new Masterpiece episodes of Downton Abbey and Sherlock, a multi-part Nova special featuring physicist Brian Greene, a Fall Arts Festival from Great Performances, and new seasons of Nature, Frontline, Austin City Limits, and our award-winning PBS Kids lineup. We also have two new exciting programs, America Revealed and Ken Burns’ Prohibition.

This fundraising weekend schedule is full of timeless music programs and moving documentaries – and as always, we’ve left your Friday night public affairs line-up in tact. and kept many of your favorite weekend programs, like Central Texas Gardener, in their regular time slots.

By giving a gift now, you help bring the World to Central Texas, and ignite the explorer in all of us. Help us reach our goal of $40,000 this weekend, and we’ll turn your support into education, information, and entertainment for all.

Rock and pop legends Jon “Bowzer” Bauman from Sha Na Na and Ronnie Spector of the Ronettes bring back the best songs from the late 1950s and early 1960s rock, pop and doo wop era in an all new My Music concert event at 3 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Sunday.

Backed by the Imelda May band, with Brian Setzer, Gary U.S. Bonds & Trombone Shorty, Jeff Beck and his special guests play tribute to the legendary Les Paul at 9 p.m. on Sunday.

Suze Orman’s Money Class provides powerful, timely and often surprising advice for saving and investing, building a career, planning for retirement and more at 5 p.m. Sunday and 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

An exploration of the dramatic event that launched a worldwide rights movement, American Experience: Stonewall Uprising at 8 p.m. Monday features the story told by the drag queens, street hustlers, police detectives, journalists and others who were at the historic protest.

Emile Norman: By His Own Design chronicles the life of self-taught California artist Emile Norman at 9:30 p.m. Monday.

Often called the “Greenwich Village of Houston”, Montrose, Texas at 10:30 p.m. Monday tells the story of one of the most colorful and legendary neighborhoods in Texas.

Secrets of the Dead “Doping for Gold” at 7 p.m. Tuesday reveals the truth behind the biggest and most horrifying state-sponsored doping program the world has ever known. The film digs deep into the secretive Cold War world of East German athletes, who dominated international sports in the 1970s and were often forced to take untested steroids by their own government.

Frontline at 8 p.m. Tuesday investigates why the economic meltdown happened and examines critical moments in the 1990s when it might have gone much differently.

Fred Martinez was one of the youngest hate-crime victims in modern history when he was brutally murdered at 16. Independent Lens: Two Spirits at 9 p.m. Tuesday explores the life and death of a boy, who was also a girl, and the essentially spiritual nature of gender.

In this episode of On Story presented by the Austin Film Festival at 10 p.m. Tuesday, comedy in film is discussed by the creative minds behind “To Die For,” “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” and “The Hangover.” Featuring Harold Ramis, Judd Apatow, Buck Henry, and Jon Lucas.

Secrets of the Dead: “Michelangelo” at 7 p.m. Wednesday explores the masterful career of Michelangelo and his conflicted relationship with the Catholic Church.

Nova “Musical Mind” at 8 p.m. Wednesday investigates the extraordinary impact music can have on the human brain, through the case studies from neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks’ latest book Musicophilia.

Marty Robbins: Seems Like Yesterday at 9 p.m. Wednesday features full performances of Robbins’ most memorable and recognizable hits linked the story of his music, his career and his life.

Acclaimed tunesmiths all, Lyle Lovett and his friends John Hiatt, Guy Clark and Joe Ely pool their talents for this special episode of Austin City Limits at 10 p.m. Wednesday and 9 p.m. Friday.

Evan Smith explores the work of Lawrence Lessig at 7 p.m. Thursday and 8:30 p.m. Friday on Overheard. As a lawyer, a writer and an advocate, Lessig has played a huge role in the development of modern copyright law and in the creation of theories and movements to support change in the law.

On Split Decision at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Austin boxer Jesus “El Matador” Chavez finds his rise to the world championship cut short when he is deported to Mexico for a youthful crime in his past.

Documentarian Frederick Wiseman uses an Austin boxing gym as an example of the American “melting pot,” people of many races and ethnic backgrounds meet, talk and train – and in some cases dream together of success, riches and prominence on Boxing Gym at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings burn up the stage with their modern take on classic soul and funk on this episode of Austin City Limits at 7 p.m. Saturday. Texas treasure Carolyn Wonderland follows with her incendiary blend of rock, blues and soul.

Austin, Texas — KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, announces the addition of a new digital channel, Vme, the first national Spanish-language television network presented by public television stations, which began airing earlier this month. This new alternative to traditional Spanish television is now available to over-the-air viewers on 18.4.

Vme (pronounced veh-meh) is designed for U.S. Latinos seeking greater variety in Spanish-language programs. Its name is taken from the Spanish word veme, which means “see me.” Its programs promise to entertain, educate and inspire families in Spanish with a contemporary mix of original productions, exclusive premieres and popular public television programs. The Vme schedule is available online at klru.org/schedule

“We’re excited to offer this new channel to the Austin area,” said Bill Stotesbery, KLRU CEO and General Manager. “The Vme service helps us provide a true alternative to the Spanish language commercial networks that is reflective of the KLRU mission to educate, entertain and inspire Central Texas.”

Over-the-air viewers (those viewers who do not have cable or satellite service) who wish to access the Vme channel should re-scan their DTV sets or converter boxes in order to receive this and other new digital channels. KLRU is working with local cable providers to add the channel to their lineups. Please see klru.org for updates.

Vme joins KLRU’s other broadcast channels. KLRU on 18.1 features PBS and local programming. KLRU Create on 18.2 focuses on “do-it-yourself” programs on cooking, travel, arts and crafts, gardening, home improvement and other lifestyle interests. KLRU-Q on 18.3 featuring entertaining and inspiring shows about history, music, science, nature, food and more. Q, which airs on 18-3, is structured in ‘blocks’ of programming throughout the day, with genres chosen specifically for the Austin audience. These channels are also available to Grande and Time Warner digital cable subscribers.

KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, reflects, celebrates and inspires Central Texas through creative excellence, community engagement and lifelong learning. In addition to providing locally produced and quality national television programming, KLRU is also a non-profit organization helping to build a stronger community through educational workshops, community engagement projects and public events. Known as the producing station of the longest-running live music television show AUSTIN CITY LIMITS, KLRU has also worked on several other national productions including the documentaries CITIZEN ARCHITECT and LAST BEST HOPE. The station also produces local shows including OVERHEARD WITH EVAN SMITH, CENTRAL TEXAS GARDENER and ARTS IN CONTEXT. Get more information about KLRU at klru.org.

KLRU has added the documentary Out in America to the June schedule. This program will air on Sunday, June 12, at 7pm.

Out in America is an uplifting collection of unique, transformative stories and inspiring personal narratives told through the lens of the country’s most prominent LGBT figures and pioneers, as well as many average, yet extraordinary, citizens from Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender communities. The program weaves together diverse stories – from urban and rural America, from the heartland to New England, from San Francisco to Harlem. Deeply moving and often humorous, viewers will get a glimpse of awakenings, first crushes, unlikely soul mates, intimacy and liberation. While separated by circumstance and upbringing, the film’s subjects are all united in their shared experiences of self-discovery, coming out, pride and love as well as a triumph over adversity and a true sense of belonging. Against the backdrop of historical events, each also traces their own hopes, struggles, influences and contributions towards advancements in equality and broad social change.

Also airing is Montrose, Texas: The Transformation of a Neighborhood. This thirty-minute documentary airs at 8:30 pm Sunday and 10:30 p.m. Monday.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker shot into the national spotlight this year when she was elected the first openly GLBT mayor of a large city. Hers is one of the many voices featured in the documentary, Montrose, Texas: The Transformation of a Neighborhood. This program features community leaders Suzanne Anderson, Marion E. Coleman, John Danielson, Ray Hill, Jimmy Carper, Brandon Wolf, and City Council Member Sue Lovell, among others. Rare footage from The Gulf Coast Archive and Museum of GLBT History brings back fond memories.

Other shows airing as part of Gay & Lesbian Pride Month include:
Stonewall Uprising: American Experience airs Monday, June 13th at 8pm
Emile Norman—By His Own Design airs Monday, June 13th at 9:30 pm
Independent Lens “Two Spirits” airs Tuesday, June 14th at 9 pmFind out more these programs here